Four hours. Half a workday blown on customer support. And all I needed to do was transfer our service.
Between setting up new accounts, dodging aggressive upsells, and being transferred to five different reps (having to retell my story every single time), it wasn’t a masterclass of customer experience.
At least this time, I didn’t get “accidentally” disconnected on the fifth transfer and forced to start all over again.
It got me thinking: That is exactly what a terrible company looks like.
The entire system is built on endless bureaucracy, patchwork solutions, and a complete and utter disregard (disdain?) for the customer experience.
You want to cancel? Instead of asking how they can fix the problem, they immediately try to sell MORE of their product! It’s incredible.
Contrast that with how we operate at Financial Zen. With every single Member interaction, we are actively taking notes on how to improve what we deliver.
We remove the friction. Our ultimate goal is to do everything for you except physically sign your name.
We manage the behavior. This is why we are so high-touch. Financial success is really a study in behavioral science, and accountability is the cheat code.
We keep pricing simple. No hidden fees. No upsells. Just transparent pricing that actually makes sense.
The Munger Method
Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, was famous for his strategy of inverted thinking. To solve a complex problem, he would look at it backward.
If you are building a financial planning company, the framework looks like this:
Question 1: What are all the things we could do to guarantee we become the absolute worst financial planning company in the world? (e.g., Hidden fees, terrible communication, making clients do all the paperwork, aggressively upselling them on products they don’t need).
Question 2: What is the exact opposite of those terrible things?
Great. Go do those.
I’m pretty sure Comcast forgot to ask Question #2.